Draymond Green finally wins Defensive Player of the Year

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Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year & Assist of the Year Award winner, Draymond Green, poses in the press room at the 2017 NBA Awards at Basketball City at Pier 36 on Monday, June 26, 2017, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) blocks the final shot of the first quarter of Game 3 against Cleveland Cavaliers' Kyrie Irving (2) for the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on Wednesday, June 7, 2017. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

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Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James (23) goes up for a layup while being guarded by Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) and Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) during the first quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, June 1, 2017. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) defends against Utah Jazz's Gordon Hayward (20) in the first half of Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Monday, May 8, 2017. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James (23) takes a shot against Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) in the first quarter of Game 4 of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on Friday, June 9, 2017. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) speaks to Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James (23) during the second quarter of Game 4 of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on Friday, June 9, 2017. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) fights for the ball against Cleveland Cavaliers' Kyrie Irving (2) in the second quarter of Game 7 of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, June 19, 2016. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) guards Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James (23) during the first quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on Wednesday, June 7, 2017. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) defends against Cleveland Cavaliers' Kyrie Irving (2) in the second quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, June 1, 2017. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

The Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) contests a shot by the Cleveland Cavaliers' JR Smith (5) in the third quarter of Game 1 of The Finals at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, June 1, 2017. (Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group)

Golden State Warriors fans hold up a sign supporting Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) during the Warriors game against the San Antonio Spurs in the third quarter of Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Finals at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, May 16, 2017. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

Draymond Green has finally captured the elusive individual defensive award he has long coveted.

After two straight seasons as a runner-up to Kawhi Leonard, Green was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the 2016-17 season, announced during the inaugural NBA Awards show in New York City on Monday night.

Green accepted the award in person, strolling up to the stage in a teal tuxedo suit jacket, a bow tie, shorts and some skull-head slippers without socks, an aggressive outfit that created quite the social media buzz. Kevin Garnett, who won the award in 2008, presented the trophy to Green.

“First off, thank you, means a lot to get the award from you,” Green told Garnett.

He then thanked his teammates in a surprisingly modest speech.

“This isn’t an individual award. There are five guys out there at a time,” Green said. “I appreciate them. Even with KD and Klay not making the All-Defensive team, I appreciate everything they do.”

In winning, Green, who was selected 35th overall by the Warriors back in 2012, became only the sixth non-first round pick in NBA history to win Defensive Player of the Year, joining Marc Gasol, Ben Wallace, Dennis Rodman, Mark Eaton and Michael Cooper.

Green first built up this type of defensive reputation three seasons ago. The year prior, he was a bench player and not among the 17 guys to receive votes for the award. But a preseason injury to David Lee in 2014 catapulted him into the Warriors’ starting lineup.

Suddenly with a bigger role, Green’s unique skill set terrorized the league and turned heads. Listed at 6-foot-7, Green is an undersized power forward who blocks shots and rebounds like a man five inches taller. But it’s his versatility, lateral quickness and smarts that makes him so unique.

In a league transitioning more and more to a spread pick-and-roll offensive attack, Green was the perfect defensive antidote, a high-energy scrambling big who was bulky enough to guard every type of center, agile enough to stay with point guards, studious enough to learn every player’s every move and confident enough to embrace all challenges and loudly boast every time he succeeds.

As various teams across the league tried to reform around the NBA’s changing style, a common personnel suggestion began continually popping up: “They need to find themselves a Draymond Green.”

In 2015, Green received 45 first place votes for the Defensive Player of the Year, eight more than Kawhi Leonard. But because of the point system and more second place finishes for Leonard, the Spurs forward narrowly snagged the award. In 2016, Leonard won it again, this time more comfortably.

So Leonard entered the 2017 season again as the likely favorite for it. But a few things had changed around Green, which created a perfect storm.

The addition of Kevin Durant meant Green would likely take an offensive backseat, which he did. His points and shots per game went down. But in his chase for the DPOY, he found a task that would both consume his attention and help his team.

The Warriors’ third game of the season was in Phoenix. To that point, they’d struggled defensively, getting blown out in the opener by San Antonio, winning a shootout with the Pelicans and then struggling with the young Suns. But in the fourth quarter in Phoenix, Green cranked up the energy, had two blocks and a steal down the stretch and sealed the game.

Then in his postgame interview, Green mentioned his strong desire to chase the award and Steve Kerr backed him up. The campaign had already begun.

Over the next few months, Green would dot his résumé with a number of Heisman moments. He stripped Anthony Davis on a post-up to seal a win in New Orleans, stole an inbound pass to Giannis Antetokounmpo to put away the Bucks and then swatted two Atlanta shots out of bounds to punctuate a win over the Hawks — the equivalent of three game-winning shots, except on the defensive end.

From there, the award was all but his as long as the Warrior defense remained sturdy the rest of the year, which it did. Golden State finished with a 101.9 defensive rating, the second best mark in the league and, despite losing Andre Bogut and facing a bunch of ‘Do they have enough rim protection?’ preseason questions, the Warriors led the league in blocked shots.

Green, as with everything for the Warrior defense, was a big part of it. On Monday, he was finally rewarded for it with an individual trophy.

https://youtu.be/5K5ICSO__qU CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the video on a mobile device The Golden State Warriors lost three straight road games in Texas for the first time under the Steve Kerr era. They need to prepare for three big home games against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Portland Trailblazers, and the Sacramento Kings. The Warriors (12-6)...